A data sheet of an electronic device is a specification sheet mainly relating to electric characteristics of a device provided to a user by a device maker as disclosed in “Technical Information F3L400R12PT4_B26,” Infineon Technologies AG, Nov. 11, 2013. In the data sheet, for each device type, the electric characteristics to be published are represented by numerical values or graphs, and data such as specification values are described. Furthermore, in regard to the electric characteristics, a value of a characteristic parameter and a graph of a characteristic curve (hereinafter referred to as a “characteristic graph”) are described for each of various items.
More specifically, the data sheet includes a part in which specifications of maximum ratings indicating a guarantee range of an operation of the device are described and a part in which ranges of various rated values are described. These descriptive parts involve not only descriptions of the respective rated values but also descriptions of a name of each rated value, an abbreviated name thereof, a unit thereof, setting conditions therefor, that is, measurement conditions, and in some cases, at least one of a maximum value and a minimum value of the rated value. In addition, the data sheet includes a part in which graphs indicating various kinds of characteristic curves under conditions satisfying the ratings are described.
The data sheet may be used as a sales support tool for the device maker in a sense that features of the device are described in the data sheet. Furthermore, the user uses the data sheet as data to be used to select parts and design a circuit using the selected parts. Note that, in general, such a user may often be an expert in design rather than an expert in measurement.
In general, the device maker describes and publishes a simplified measurement block diagram for a measurement method used for a measurement of an electric characteristic described in the data sheet, but does not describe or publish a measurement instrument used for the measurement, control specifications thereof, or the like.
There are many more kinds of electric characteristic items described in the data sheet in a case of a semiconductor transistor, which is a three-terminal device, than in a case of an electronic component device such as a two-terminal passive element, for example, a resistor, a capacitor, or an inductor.
The device maker sometimes publishes methods of measuring the above-mentioned specification values and representative values, representative values other than those described in the data sheet, and the like for each device as such an application note as disclosed in “Application Note AN 2011-05 V1.1 May 2013, Industrial IGBT Modules, Explanation of Technical Information,” Infineon Technologies AG, May 5, 2013.
As described above, the data sheet and the application note allow a maker to provide the specification values and the representative values, but do not necessarily indicate performance of the device based on values actually measured under conditions desired by the user.
However, when the user of the electronic device, in particular, a circuit designer in this case, wishes to design an intended circuit, the user is required to acquire the characteristics of the device under operating conditions for the circuit to be used. To that end, the user is required to understand details of the data sheet and the application note and to create a measurement environment and a measurement program while paying attention to the measurement conditions at the same time, which requires large amounts of labor, time, and cost. Furthermore, when the user manages measurement results obtained for each device type for easy reference and puts the measurement results to use for the user's own design, much labor is required to sort and manage the measurement results by the device type, rearrange the accumulated measurement results for easy access, and present the measurement results in a form that allows easy understanding (readability), which imposes a considerable burden on the user.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a device analyzer disclosed in, for example, “1500 A and 10 kV IGBT Characterization Using the Agilent B1505A, Application Note B1505A Power Device Analyzer/Curve Tracer,” Agilent Technologies, Inc., Jul. 27, 2012 may be used. Through use of software EasyEXPERT shown in FIG. 6 of “1500 A and 10 kV IGBT Characterization Using the Agilent B1505A, Application Note B1505A Power Device Analyzer/Curve Tracer,” Agilent Technologies, Inc., Jul. 27, 2012, various electric characteristics of a semiconductor device may be measured and analyzed to extract characteristic parameters with a Keysight B1505A device analyzer sold by Keysight Technologies, Inc. (formerly Agilent Technologies, Inc.). In addition, the characteristic curve may be converted into a graph. In addition, multiple measurements may be automatically executed.
However, the following problems arise even when the above-mentioned analyzer allows the measurement of the individual characteristics described in the data sheet of the device.
First, a typical user as described above is familiar with representation of the various characteristics in a data sheet format as disclosed in “Technical Information F3L400R12PT4_B26,” Infineon Technologies AG, Nov. 11, 2013, but is not an expert in measurement of device characteristics. Therefore, the user is not familiar with a specific method of measuring each characteristic, a setting method unique to the measurement instrument required to carry out the method, or other such method, and thus is required to learn and understand those methods. Therefore, such a user has difficulty performing the setting of and the measurement with the measurement instrument under desired device operating conditions so as to obtain the device characteristics. Through the use of the software EasyEXPERT shown in FIGS. 6 of “1500 A and 10 kV IGBT Characterization Using the Agilent B1505A, Application Note B1505A Power Device Analyzer/Curve Tracer,” Agilent Technologies, Inc., Jul. 27, 2012, the characteristics of the semiconductor device may be measured with a desired setting. However, to use this software, the user is required to conduct various settings necessary for the measurement instrument to be used for the measurement in addition to the measurement conditions described in the data sheet, which imposes a burden on the user.
Next, when multiple measurements are conducted by EasyEXPERT described above, the respective measurement results are stored in individual files or stored in one file in a list structure or a tree structure, but such a structure is not a data sheet format. Therefore, such measurement results lack browsability, and are hard for the user to grasp. On the other hand, to individually read a measurement result from among the stored measurement results to provide the representation of the characteristics in the data sheet format, the user is required to conduct work for selection of the measurement result and creation of a report, which takes labor, time, and cost.
In addition, in the above-mentioned case, when there is need to further acquire characteristics under different operating conditions as a result of reviewing the representation of the characteristics obtained as a result of creating the report, the user is required to again conduct work for the measurement of the respective characteristics, the selection of the measurement result, and the creation of the report, which imposes a heavy burden on the user.
As described above, the user obtains information on the characteristics of a device from the data sheet provided by the device maker, to compare the characteristics among multiple types and design and simulate the circuit into which the device is built, but the data sheet does not always include the descriptions of all the characteristics for the comparison or all the characteristics under the operating conditions required for the design.
In addition, most users are not familiar with the specific method of measuring each characteristic described in the data sheet. Furthermore, the method differs depending on the measurement instrument, and hence when the data sheet provided by the device maker does not include the description of a characteristic under desired operating conditions, the user of the device has difficulty performing the measurement to know the characteristic of the device.
In addition, even when the user takes time to perform the measurement, there exists no measurement instrument that has a function of displaying the representation of characteristics as described in the data sheet, and hence the user is required to extract multiple measurement results and graphs from the measurement instrument, and to prepare a report involving the representation of characteristics using software such as a word processor on a personal computer (PC).